| October 1999 Ramblings | December 1999 Ramblings |
Bill Albert, founder and Fearless Leader of UNIT, issues a statement each month describing his feelings on the state of Doctor Who fandom in Iowa. He calls these messages his "Ramblings".
Here is his message for November 1999
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 08:35:16
From: 9th Doctor
Subject: November Ramblings
Hello everybody.
Here we are! 36 years, almost to the day, a policeman walked through the
dark fog and into the junk yard at 76 Totter's Lane. Who would have known
that a group of fans a half a world away would be planning on getting
together to celebrate almost 4 decades later? Well, Exiled In Iowa episode
2 is being planned for February and we started plans for episode 3 last
weekend. We're approaching it a bit different than Episode 1, less video
and more fun and trivia, and much more interactive than before. The big
question we have for everybody is when would be the best time to have it.
We have two theories for events in Iowa. One is to have two in spring and
two in fall, perhaps two each in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, or one in
spring, one in summer, and one in fall. What does everybody think? Is the
fan group in Iowa big enough for four? These events do not include getting
together for IPTV at festival time. The survey at is
still running so any fedback here or votes there would be extremely
helpful. I hope to finish that survey off this weekend so if you haven't
voted please help us out as soon.
LIBRARY
The UNIT library is open and running. Recently I read the Virgin NA
"Birthright" and would whole heartedly recommend this book. The most
popular companion developed in the novels is Professor Bernice Summerfield
and Birthright is a great feature for her character. It's also a great
look at the more mature Ace that dominated the novels. The chess player
Doctor is also important in this story.
Anybody else have any reccommendations? Please feel free to pass the good
or bad ones along to the list.
INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS
I know this is considered one of the clunkers of the Pertwee era, and the
series in general, but I have to admit, I like it. Mayhaps it's because of
the sad loooking dinos that it is so disliked so I use it as reasoning as
to why the TARGET novels are really such an important part of the series.
My first experience with this story was in the novelisation and it is
really an excellently written show. Lots of wonderful ideas and twists and
turns. So, my advice, be a bit patient with the silly looking critters and
just enjoy the story.
I realised Friday night that it is also a real goldmine of talent. Peter
Miles, Martin Jarvis, and John Bennet all appeared in this story and would
return later in some of the jewels of the series. Peter Miles, the nerdish
Professor Whitaker, would return a year later, 1975, as Nyder, Davros's
left-handed man, in "Genesis of the Daleks." Martin Jarvis would return as
the Governor in 1985 in Colin Baker's "Vengeance on Varos." The biggest
surprise is John Bennet. He is General Finch who was so nice to Sarah in
this story. He would return to the series in 1977 to play Li H'sen Chang
in "Talons of Weng-Chiang." Not bad for a clunker.
TOM BAKER
We should hit teeth and curls about mid-February as we are in the home
stretch of the Pertwee years. I didn't realise until recently that there
were actually four versions of the famous Baker scarf. I knew there were
the multi-colored and reddish scarves but didn't know there are three
different versions of the multi-colored one. Our resident web master Mike
Williams had put all four patterns on the UNIT web page. Anyone know how
to knit? If you do how'd you like to teach us at one of the future
episodes of Exiled so some of us can make our own?
UNIT LOGO
Ok, well, sorry this has been bounced around these past few weeks. I
apologise for the confusion on this. We are now officially opening the
UNIT logo contest. Anyone and everyone is encouraged to enter no matter if
you just have a rough idea or a top notch computer design. You can scan it,
design it, or just plain describe it and we'll give it an equal chance.
Entries for this can be sent to me via private email at
I will post them all on the onelist shared files
section or the UNIT page so we can see look at them side by side.
The things to remember are that we are officially UNIT, not UNIT-1, and are
the Iowan Time Lords. There was also some concern about copyright
expressed before. I really don't feel there is anything to worry about on
that. If we were making $$$$ off of it then there would be a problem but
the BBC is much to busy to worry about a fan group. The Princton
Pyradonian's (sp?) have been using the name and logo for years. There is
also the fact that, while the BBC does own the copyright for TARDIS, they
do not own the Police Box image.
We have a very special prize for the logo that is voted as the favorite.
The deadline for entries is December 11th with voting from December 12th to
December 31st. Hopefully we can have t-shirts and the like printed and
ready for the meeting in February. If the winner doesn't have the time or
ability to get them done we at UNIT HQ could help.
Thanks for listening and I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!
Take care,
Brigade Leader Bill
Here is part two of the "November Ramblings":
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 20:24:56
From: 9th Doctor
Subject: Still more November ramblings
Beginning in December we are going to be holding meetings in Cedar Rapids
on the second weekend of every month. It isn't anything fancy or planned,
just a chance to get together and keep caught up on all things Who. We
thought it would help people who want to join us if we had a set date
instead of the "at random" way we have been going in the past. The meeting
time will be between 6:30pm and 7:00pm in the cafeteria at Barnes and
Noble. Usually we meet and chat there for a while and then head out for
dinner. Anybody who wants to stop in and join us is more than welcome.
Lea hayes has come across a website called Dr Who North America at
It is based in Indianapolis and is a pretty impressive
collection of calendars, audios, necklaces, rings, keychains, etc. It also
has a few Red Dwarf and Blake's seven items. The quick scan of the site
showed me that they are a few dollars cheaper there than trekker or MOSV as
well.
Bill
The 9th Doctor's Pages: